Friday, April 19, 2019

Jason Bonham has come forward to apologize to Jimmy Page over recent comments he made about the Led Zeppelin guitarist introducing him to cocaine when he was 16.

“Jimmy was the first one to ever give it to me,” said Bonham during an April 9 appearance on The Howard Stern Show with Sammy Hagar & The Circle. “We got called to his room, and there was a woman on the floor with a collar on, meowing, and he had this grinder thing and he turned it over and he went, ‘Here you go,’ and I went, ‘Thanks.’ He’s like, ‘You’ve done this before, right?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, of course I have.’ So he handed it over and I just did all of it, and he went, ‘Just like your father – y’know, that was supposed to be for all of us.'”

Now, the son of late Zeppelin drummer John Bonham has retracted his story about the alleged incident in a statement issued via his website.

“On or about 9 April 2019 I, Jason Bonham, gave an interview on radio with Howard Stern (the Interview),” Bonham explained. “In that interview I made certain untrue and derogatory statements concerning Mr. James Page (aka Jimmy Page) of the legendary band Led Zeppelin.

“I unconditionally retract all derogatory and defamatory comments relating to Mr. J Page that I made in that interview. In particular it is wholly untrue that Mr. J Page offered me any illegal substances either when I was a minor or at all.”

“I apologize to Mr. Page, unreservedly, for making these unfounded and untrue comments about him,” he added. “Out of my long held respect for Mr. Page I will make no further comments on the Interview and I agree to make no further comments which Mr. Page might view as disparaging, either now or in the future.”

Bonham famously joined Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones for a 2007 Led Zeppelin reunion performance in London that was eventually released in 2012 as “Celebration Day.”